The Green’s candidate for Brighton Pavilion has quit the London Assembly just days after being elected to it.
Sian Berry had come in for persistent criticism from local Labour activists for running in the capital’s elections while also being a candidate here.
In particular, they pointed to her two addresses, one in Camden and one in Brighton, saying it pointed to split priorities.
Today, Ms Berry said she was looking forward to spending more time in Brighton – and that she would soon be giving up her Camden flat.
She said: “It has been a huge honour to do the job I have done in London for eight years.
“The country has faced enormous turmoil and challenges since then, and pushing a Labour mayor to be bolder and more ambitious constantly informs my work for better public services, campaigning for young people, and secure housing in Brighton.
“My work holding a Labour Mayor to account means I have the experience needed to do the same with a new Prime Minister.
“I am looking forward to spending even more time in Brighton and listening to what matters to people here. After stellar results for Greens across the country last week, it’s clear that a general election is needed right now.”
Under the electoral rules for the London Assembly, voters don’t elect a specific candidate in the London-wide elections, but instead for a party. No names are listed on ballot papers.
Ms Berry’s seat will go to the next person on the Green’s candidate list – the party’s mayoral candidate Zoe Garbett.
Ms Berry served on the Assembly from 2016. She was selected as a candidate for Brighton Pavilion after its current MP, Caroline Lucas, announced she was stepping down at the next election, having served since 2010.
“I am looking forward to spending even more time in Brighton and listening to what matters to people here.”
So, that’s an admission that she is a total outsider and has absolutely no idea of what we in Brighton and Hove are about.
She obviously sees herself as some God-given saviour to us all, as if we will fall at her feet and give thanks that she is coming here, to meet us for the first time and save our souls. Her claims that she has been holding the London mayor to account, and will be holding the PM to account, smacks of narcissism. She is The Messiah.
Her choice of words tells us that she is not only a poor politician, but also has an extremely high opinion of herself. People like this, as we know to our cost with previous Greens in Brighton, listen to no one. They always know best, and nothing will stop them in their mission to overturn the wishes of the public to support their “own truth”, even if democracy has to be set aside to do it.
It’s been very useful to have this article, highlighting these dangers to us so publicly. I hope people take note. So much laid bare in so few words.
“My work holding a Labour Mayor to account means I have the experience needed to do the same with a new Prime Minister.”
Totally narcissistic. A bit scary.
Agreeing with your own comment and adding on another, absolutely no narcissm being displayed there Monty 😅🤦🏻♂️. Not sure why you think the mysteries of Brighton are so elusive to anyone living outside of a BN postcode or why it’s some sign of weakness that someone is clearly happy to move to an area, find out more about and then serve it as it’s MP.
If you don’t want to vote for her then by all means don’t but let’s not pretend this is because she doesn’t live here yet. If she’d moved here 12 months ago you’d probably still be saying she knows nothing about the secretive and complex needs of Brighton. 5 years probably still not enough. You probably didn’t even think Caroline Lucas did a good job despite her being one of the most principled, honest and respected politicians in the country, precisely because she doesn’t have to compromise her own personal thoughts and the interests of her constituents to a party whip. I expect the same will be true if Sian. The country has millions of citizens voting Green but in our voting system the entire representation of every Green voter in the UK currently, and I expect will continue to rest entirely on a single MP. Brighton stands the best chance to return that MP and Sian is seen as the best candidate to do that. If she were standing in my constituency I would vote for her purely because we need someone representing the views of all the Green voters in the land. This MP is therefore bigger than just Brighton Pavilion. They provide a clear voice to the people who think Brexit has been a failure, that the crisis in Gaza needs stronger action and that voting needs reform and that the climate needs stronger action to stop opening more oil fields and move quicker on sustainable energy. All of those points resonate strongly with a lot of voters, maybe not you but if this is the only seat in the country that will represent those perspectives in Parliament I, and the millions of others could not really care about where she lives currently, how long she’s been in Brighton or whether any of that meets the Monty test for being able to stand in parliament and debate these points and others that impact us all, not just Brighton residents. When the sea reclaims the shore and the Pavillion itself due to climate change I expect there will be more than enough to moan about, and whether she moved to Brighton quick enough to understand this will be laughable.
I too am frustrated that Brexit has been a failure when it didn’t need to be, and that we most certainly do need to address the climate, end our dependence of fossil fuels, all these things, but I am also frustrated that The Greens offer no forward vision. They are particularly good at finding fault with others, but rarely (like, never) suggest solutions. You only need to look at the fantasy world that the Scottish Greens occupy, bringing down an SNP Scottish parliament because of idealism that doesn’t belong in the real world – their demands against maintaining an economically viable Scotland was idiotic!
We need a party that has the environment at heart, a vision of a fossil fuel free country and a real plan of what that world can look like, and the ability and impetus to spread that vision throughout the world – but frustratingly – that isn’t The Greens. No party can ever achieve anything remotely like this by trying to stop the world, pretending that people don’t need to travel every day, not appreciating that the world is an open economy. We cannot in 2024 remain contained in our villages – the 15 minute cities The Greens want. The Green Ghetto. We demand our freedom. This quaint idea of shopping at the local grocer and then cycling to visit granny world that The Greens think is the whole of life, it’s utterly ridiculous. Most of us are high achievers and live very full lives, and we’re not going back to the 1950s with ration books.
We need a party that can visualise and bring about a cleaner world – but a world that still functions. So far, there is none. The Greens have massively failed, and it really is time to move over and allow another party to take that place. Sian Berry is just a rinse and repeat of the Lucas’ after-the-party current background presence, and it isn’t enough. She has nothing to say, because, if she had, she would have said it by now. Sorry, but she ain’t it.
It’s nice to have the discussion though, Joe.
(p.s. sorry about the narcissism. I won’t do it again)
Brexit could never be anything but a money pit and a failure for the country …. It has cost us so much at every level for no gain whatsoever …. I would be amazed if anyone could name one tangible benefit to the country ….. a huge con perpetrated by a group of self-serving shysters ….
IBy your logic we could do away with constituencies and just have a national poll electing national MPs. If a Reform candidate was parachuted in, and Sian’s home was here, would you agree that a Reform generic candidate could legitimately represent here the 14% or so of people who seem to want some quite extreme things but who, under first past the post, are unable to get an MP? Or would you be outraged and talk of the value of local candidates who reflect the local voters wishes and needs?
The Dutch don’t elect MPs via constituency. The whole country is a constituency and members are elected based on share of the vote.
Their last election was last November. Six months on they still don’t have a properly formulated government.
I think that is a false and your proberly a tory who is trying to make a wanderful, fair,ecologicical political party look bad as you have a tory type opinion. Also I am voted green in the police + crime commissioner electioner. i will voting labour in the uk general election due to labour being the party with most votes in the entire country. plus green party took 170 seats in goverment. she cares for everybody regardless of place where the are. very diverse + inclusive.
Remember-Sian has rented a small property in Brighton for over a decade so does know our city. Also remember, Caroline Lucas originated from Oxford but did a brilliant job for our city for 14 years. Anyone with a properly educated Green agenda does know best in these dangerous times. Putting profit over the environment is a false economy and climate change doesn’t have a political agenda nor an on/off switch.
She’s no Caroline and im not voting for a Londoner yo represent Brighton BUT ay least she’s not a Conservative
Sian Berry saw the polls and fancies her chances so off she goes to Brighton. Lucky Londoners.
I was wondering why we only got Green publicity photo-shoots of Sian at weekend events!
‘Net zero’ is an unattainable poverty tax, while those trying to impose it swan around in their private jets between multiple countries and homes, making no ‘net zero’ sacrifices whatsoever. If she stands for this, she stands alone as far as I am concerned and can return to her second, or is it first, home in London?
Net Zero is an attempt to save this city from being swallowed by rising sea levels. I don’t know what poverty tax you are talking about here. You’re already paying the highest tax in decades under the Tories and none of that is going to net Zero schemes, it’s gone to Michelle Mone and the other COVID scams, it’s gone to pay for over priced uncompetitive contracts forced on the NHS to give money to Tory donors, it’s gone to fund useless ‘stop the boat’ schemes to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda and subsidise their lives abroad at a cost of millions per person whilst boats still turn up.
When the roads are covered in water and we’re still blindly giving away licences for more oil fields maybe then you’ll see that perhaps we should have spent the money building more windfarms and solar, or nuclear plants rather than letting the land drown under rising sea water, or burn under out of control forest fires.
By all means do explain what ‘tax’ you think the poor are paying for net zero exactly and where you think that money is actually going. At least the Greens actually believe in net zero and would use the money to help move away from fossil fuels. The Tories just take any money and syphon it off to donors and other stupid schemes whilst still condemning us and the planet to extinction. You take your choice however so enjoy your vote whenever the Tories decide to give it to us finally.
What rising sea levels? Brighton beach seems much the same to me as it was in the 1970s. Yes, you get cliff erosion along certain parts of the South East coast such as Birling Gap, that that was always been the case. Some beaches expand as others shrink. Coastal defences help, but are inconsistent and not always positioned where they are most needed.
That is an incredibly accurate post, I must say.
Slap in the face for all the voters in London who voted green only because she was top of the list and who won’t have been aware of her parliamentary ambitions down here.
So to zero people then, probably.
One fine day those elected might actually go and get something done that looks like they have been there, anything will do just not all the nimby crap that takes time and money away from roads, NHS, public transport, prison and punishment, and a million other things that have a never ending no solution in sight
Blimey !
She looks a right smug git!
I don’t think I’ll vote for such a fickle candidate. Surely Brighton can select a suitable local to stand as the Green Candidate? The Students who are core voters in Brighton would be wise to sign up for a postal vote. What will happen when the General Election is called during the period when Universities close for the Christmas period and the students go home for Christmas? Call me cynical but I bet that’s what will happen! A GE during half term would be disastrous for the greens in Brighton.
Not sure what’s going on with the Greens these days. They have diluted their environmental message by jumping on any bandwagon going and I see they happily accept Islamist councillors in Leeds shouting Allah Akbar etc. I want a party that puts the environment first and doesn’t get distracted by far left issues.
The problem with the Greens is that they think they are always right, and will never listen to people who dare to disagree with them. This became abundantly clear with the previous bunch of nutjob Green councillors , some of which sadly survived the local election last May.
Notice how the Green grandees love to say how well they’re doing in the council elections, but fail to mention their abject failure in Brighton
It’s actually ‘Allahu Akbar’, but don’t let your incipient racism stop you from commenting when you know absolutely nothing.
Well I have been getting all the updates from the Greens for many years and lived in Brighton where they messed things up. So I’d say I know a fair bit.
So presumably you know that for the majority of the last decade it’s been a Labour run council.
The utter shamelessness of her resigning within days of her election shows her as someone who is never to be trusted.n It’s an insult to those who voted for her. Just another unprincipled Green political careerist. No commitment to anyone or anything except her own career.
Remember David lucus did the same when she became mp she let one of her cronies take her place
It’s a bit of a rum way of doing things, but about 5 minutes ago Labour were moaning that she shouldn’t be a member of the London Assembly … and now she isn’t!
And she was really that unprincipled then she would have joined the Tories or Labour, both of which offer plenty of outstanding career opportunities for those who wouldn’t know a principle if it was wrapped round a brick and lobbed through their kitchen window.
So when you stood to be an MP yourself, was this not a career move too, Mr Lepper?
White old men mocking a talented woman. Progressive Brighton.
ALL the women in Pavilion will vote for her apart from some bitter old school labour councillors.
Sian is a good strong ethical politician and a good person. She will beat a terrible male musician, who’s not “from” Brighton either. But she scares old white men because she will not stand for a single breath of misogyny. Shhh now old boys, your time is over. The youth are better than you.
Fascinating you are speaking for ‘all women’. The Greens have still not released a position on the Cass review, and sadly this demonstrates their populist ideology is at any cost- including to the cost of women and girls health and rights. There will be plenty of women not prepared to take the risk with a party that continues with ideology based policies that are in direct conflict with evidence in both health and the environment- and in doing so causing way more damage than ‘progressive’ good.
I think they are lgbtq+. Also it is scientifically prven that wamon care more about the enviourment. plus she is helping the city of brighton be healthy + eco +fit.
i ment lgbtqi inclusive.
Which is child safeguarding exclusive, just look up Aimee Challenor
i ment proven.
Ethical?
If she was ethical she wouldn’t have stood as a list candidate for the Greens in the first place.
Doing things like this is what turns off a lot of people from politics.
I guess being 58 counts me as old. And yes I’m white but she doesn’t scare me at all. What scares me are her policies
So no I won’t be quiet. And your agism shines through. Sian won’t appreciate that.
But as she’s 49 coming up 50 many young people will regard her as old.
There is something rum about standing for election in London, for a London assembly from a London address and standing down 3 days later and then declaring utter commitment to Brighton. You don’t have to be born in Brighton and Hove to represent it… but a certain level of commitment is preferred. This person is hedging their bets, it seems.
The London-wide bit of the London Assembly doesn’t use the first past the post voting system, so there would have been a party name on the ballot paper, rather than an individual candidate – the parties then allocate seats depending on the number of votes each party received.
Labour attacking Sian Berry is getting very boring now, almost like they are trying to distract from their own lack of policies!
This is certainly not a good look for the Greens, but at least they know all the different places where their candidates live. Something which was obviously beyond Labour when selecting Council candidates last year. Glasshouses……stones……..
I can’t wait to be represented by such a principled, strong and experienced politician. The UK needs her and more Green MP’s to counteract the ‘Bluewash’ that is the incoming Labour government. People forget that Brighton’s legend that is Caroline Lucas became our MP straight after being an MEP for several years and did a fantastic job.
And more to the point CL had been living in Brussels prior to becoming Pavilion MP, not even in the UK.
The Green Party has remained silent over the Cass review report since its publication on 16th April. Given Sian Berry’s unconditional support for Stonewall’s and former NHS gender clinics approach to services for chidlren presenting with gender dysphoria – which included the now challenged gender affirmating approach and the prescribing of puberty blockers to children under the age of consent – where does this leave the Green Party as an organisaiton which prides itself of promoting policies based of the verifiable evidence?